ADENO-ASSOCIATED VIRUS WITH SITE-DIRECTED MUTAGENESIS AND SITE-DIRECTED MODIFICATION, AND PREPARATION METHOD AND APPLICATION THEREFOR

Abstract

 The present invention relates to an adeno-associated virus with site-directed mutagenesis and site-specific modification, and a preparation method and uses thereof. Specifically, the present invention uses genetic code expansion techniques to incorporate non-natural amino acid into an adeno-associated virus capsid protein VP1 or fragment thereof, thereby obtaining an adeno-associated virus with site-directed mutagenesis using the non-natural amino acid. The adeno-associated virus with site-directed mutagenesis is equivalent to a wild-type virus in terms of production, transduction and mobility, can couple with other functional molecules, such as targeting molecules, and can carry a functional gene in a normal manner, which indicates that the adeno-associated virus with site-directed mutagenesis can be used as a tool adeno-associated virus, and applied in various aspects associated with adeno-associated virus such as finding adeno-associated virus binding proteins or using as target genetic therapy vector.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an adeno-associated virus with site-directed mutagenesis and site-specific modification, specifically, the present invention relates to an adeno-associated virus with site-directed mutagenesis and site-specific modification using non-natural amino acids and adeno-associated virus capsid protein VP1 or fragment thereof. The present invention further relates to a preparation method and uses of the adeno-associated virus with site-directed mutagenesis and site-specific modification.

Background Art

[0002] Adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) are nonenveloped, single-stranded DNA viruses of the family Panvoviridae ^[1] and the genus Dependovirus that are not associated with any known disease and show great potential as gene transfer vectors^[2]. AAVs depend on co-infection with a helper virus, such as adenovirus, herpes-virus, or papillomavirus for productive replication ^[3]. AAV has been considered as a promising vehicle for human gene therapy based on its ability to infect both dividing and non-dividing cells, as well as establish long-term gene expression in vivo without known pathological consequence of infection ^[4-7]. The AAV type 2 (AAV2) nanoparticles constitutes the first primate AAV to be cloned, and promising results have been obtained with this nano vector in clinical gene transfer, including cystic fibrosis ^[8], retinal degenerative disorders ^[9-11] and haemophilia B ^{[12, 13]}.

[0003] In recent years, there have been intensive efforts in many laboratories to generate targeted AAV vectors by modifying the cell-binding characteristics of these particles. The primary strategy has been to genetically modify the AAV capsid proteins by insertion of targeting peptide motifs that can direct nano vectors to specific cell types. This method has been successfully employed to retarget AAV to arterial endothelium^[14], striated muscles^[15], and brain vasculature^[l6]. However, the major technical challenges in this manipulation include the low production yield, dramatic reduction of vector titer, or significant drop of DNA packaging efficiency^[17]. The large-scale genetic engineering modifications of viral capsid may abrogate their infectivity and even alter the innate interactions between viruses and host cells. For this reason, it is necessary to develop a site-selective and non-destructive technique for modifying adeno-associated viruses.

[0004] After several years of studying, comprehensive understanding of ribosome translation mechanism of prokaryotic organisms is almost achieved, crystalline and electron microscopic structures of many ribosomes under different functional status have been resolved; and structures of most aminoacyl-tRNA synthases have been obtained. On the basis of these achievements, a technology of expanding genetic code is developing in recent years, in which an amber termination codon (TAG) is used to encode a variety of non-natural amino acids and to perform site-specific incorporation into organisms in vivo. So far, this technology has been successfully used to site-specifically express dozens of non-natural amino acids in proteins of living cells, which endow these proteins with novel physical, chemical and physiological properties. By using this method, non-natural amino acids (including amino acids for affinity labeling and photoisomerization, carbonylated amino acids and glycosylated amino acids) can be incorporated into proteins (L. Wang, et al, (2001), SCIENCE 292:498-500; J.W. Chin, et al, 2002, Journal of the American Chemical Society 124:9026-9027; J. W. Chin, &P. G. Schultz, 2002, ChemBioChem 11:1135-1137). These researches show that it is possible that chemical groups such as carbonyl, alkynyl and azido can be selectively and conventionally into proteins, in which these groups generally can effectively and selectively form stable covalent bonds, which is advantageous for site-specific modification of proteins and improvement of properties of proteins.

[0005] However, this technology has not been applied in site-modification of adeno-associated virus yet.

Summary of the Invention

[0006] After intensive laboratory researches, the inventors surprisingly find that genetic code expanding techniques can be used to incorporate an non-natural amino acid into an adeno-associated virus capsid protein VP1 or a fragment thereof at some specific sites, which is further expressed on adeno-associated virus, thereby implementing the present invention.

[0007] In one embodiment of the present invention, 14 mutation sites are selected according to structural analysis of adeno-associated virus capsid protein VP1, the codons of amino acids corresponding to these 14 sites are mutated as TAG, and 14 VP1 protein expression vectors are constructed.

[0008] In one embodiment of the present invention, these 14 vectors are separately used with a vector comprising a gene encoding orthogonal amber mutant suppressor aminoacyl-tRNA synthase/tRNA_CUA pairs to co-transfer cells, and non-natural amino acid NAEK is added in cell culture media. Experiments confirm that non-natural amino acid NAEK can be inserted separately at sites R447, G453, S578, N587, N587+1 and S662, while non-natural amino acid NAEK cannot be inserted at other sites. In another embodiment of the present invention, it is confirmed with experiments that non-natural amino acid DiZPK can be inserted at site N587.

[0009] The mechanism of this mutation system is that mutant tRNA^Pyl, PylRS meet the following requirements: (1) tRNA^Pyl cannot use lysyl-tRNA enzymeof host cell, and can be acylated by mutant PylRS only; (2) mutant PylRS can acylate tRNAPyl only, and cannot acylate other tRNA; that is, mutant tRNAPyl and PylRS have an orthogonal relation between each other. This orthogonal enzyme, and only this enzyme, can acylate an non-natural amino acid to this orthogonal tRNA, and to only this tRNA, but cannot acylate other tRNA. The resultant orthogonal lysyl-tRNA synthase/tRNA system makes NAEK or DiZPK, which are not 20 common amino acids, to correspond to amber codon TAG, so that this non-natural amino acid is incorporated into adeno capsid protein.

[0010] In one embodiment of the present invention, an adeno-associated virus with a site-specifically inserted non-natural amino acid is obtained.

[0011] In embodiments of the present invention, an adeno-associated virus with a site-specific mutation is equivalent to a wild-type virus in terms of viral production and transduction ability to cell.

[0012] In embodiments of the present invention, an adeno-associated virus with a site-specific mutation is co-incubated with a fluorescence labeling molecule, so that an non-natural amino acid is coupled to the fluorescence labeling molecule via a click chemistry.

[0013] In one embodiment of the present invention, a motion trail of single virus can be observed under a confocal microscopy via a fluorescence labeling molecule coupled with an adeno-associated virus with a site-specific mutation.

[0014] In one embodiment of the present invention, an adeno-associated virus with site-specific mutation is coupled to a targeting molecule via a click chemistry, which can improve targeting ability of an adeno-associated virus with site-specific mutation to a cell.

[0015] In one embodiment of the present invention, an adeno-associated virus with site-specific mutation can further express a functional protein or a nucleic acid, so that the functional protein or the nucleic acid can exert activity in an infected cell.

[0016] More specifically, the present invention relates to the following aspects.

[0017] The first aspect of the present invention relates to a site-specifically mutated adeno-associated virus capsid protein VP1 or a fragment thereof, in which an amino acid at a specific site of a corresponding wild type adeno-associated virus capsid protein VP1 or a fragment thereof is mutated as an non-natural amino acid, the specific site is at least one site selected from sites R447, G453, S578, N587, N587+1, S662 of VP1 or fragment thereof.

[0018] In embodiments of the present invention, the VP1 has an amino acid sequence as shown in SEQ ID NO: 1, and the VP1 has a nucleotide sequence as shown in SEQ ID NO: 2.

[0019] The adeno-associated virus capsid protein VP1 or fragment thereof according to any one of items of the first aspect of the present invention, in which the non-natural amino acid for example can be an azido non-natural amino acid, a photo-crosslinking non-natural amino acid, a keto non-natural amino acid, an alkynyl non-natural amino acid, an acetyl non-natural amino acid, a phosphoryl non-natural amino acid, a methyl non-natural amino acid. In embodiments of the present invention, the non-natural amino acid is an azido-containing non-natural amino acid, for example,
Nε-2-azideoethyloxycarbonyl-L-lysine (NAEK),

or the non-natural amino acid is an non-natural amino acid with structure similar to the above azido-containing non-natural amino acid, for example, DiZPK.

[0020] In one embodiment of the present invention, an amino acid at a specific site of a wild type adeno-associated virus capsid protein VP1 or fragment thereof is mutated as NAEK, the specific site is at least one site selected from sites R447, G453, S578, N587, N587+1, S662 of the VP1 or fragment thereof.

[0021] In another embodiment of the present invention, an amino acid at a specific site of a wild type adeno-associated virus capsid protein VP1 or fragment thereof is mutated as DiZPK, the specific site is site N587 of the VP1 or fragment thereof.

[0022] The adeno-associated virus capsid protein VP1 or fragment thereof according to any one of items of the first aspect of the present invention, in which the NAEK and the amino acid sequence of VP1 or fragment thereof are linked in a manner as shown in Formula I:

wherein the direction from R1 to R2 is the direction from N-terminal to C-terminal of the amino acid sequence, in which amino acid at site N is one of amino acids at sites selected from site R447, site G453, site S578, site N587, site N587+1, site S662, R1 is an amino acid residue at site 1 to site N-1 of the amino acid sequence of VP1 or fragment thereof, R2 is an amino acid residue at site N+1 to C-terminal of the amino acid sequence of VP1 or fragment thereof.

[0023] The adeno-associated virus capsid protein VP1 or fragment thereof according to any one of items of the first aspect of the present invention, in which the DiZPK and the amino acid sequence of VP1 or fragment thereof are linked in a manner as shown in Formula II:

wherein the direction from R1 to R2 is the direction from N-terminal to C-terminal of the amino acid sequence, in which amino acid at site N is amino acid at site N587, R1 is an amino acid residue at site 1 to site N-1 of the amino acid sequence of VP1 protein or fragment thereof, R2 is an amino acid residue at site N+1 to C-terminal of the amino acid sequence of VP1 protein or fragment thereof,
R3 is

[0024] The adeno-associated virus capsid protein VP1 or fragment thereof according to any one of items of the first aspect of the present invention, in which the adeno-associated virus is type 2 adeno-associated virus (AAV2).

[0025] The adeno-associated virus capsid protein VP1 or fragment thereof according to any one of items of the first aspect of the present invention, in which the non-natural amino acid further links to a labeling group, such as fluorescence labeling group, or a labeling group capable of occurring a click chemistry with azide.

[0026] In embodiments of the present invention, the labeling group is Alexa fluorescence group, such as Alexa 488 or Alexa 555. In some specific embodiments, the labeling group is DIBO-Alexa 488 or DIBO-Alexa 555.

[0027] In embodiments of the present invention, a DIBO-containing labeling molecule is linked to an azido-containing non-natural amino acid via a click chemistry, especially a copper-free click chemistry.

[0028] The adeno-associated virus capsid protein VP1 or fragment thereof according to any one of items of the first aspect of the present invention, in which the non-natural amino acid further links to another functional molecule, such as targeting molecule, preferably, the targeting molecule further links to a group capable of occurring click chemistry with an azide, such as DIBO (dibenzocyclooctyne), cyclooctyne, alkynyl.

[0029] The second aspect of the present invention relates to a site-specifically mutated adeno-associated virus capsid protein, which comprises the adeno-associated virus capsid protein VP1 or fragment thereof according to any one of items of the first aspect of the present invention.

[0030] The third aspect of the present invention relates to a site-specifically mutated adeno-associated virus, which comprises the adeno-associated virus capsid protein VP1 or fragment thereof according to any one of items of the first aspect of the present invention, or the adeno-associated virus capsid protein according to any one of items of the second aspect.

[0031] The adeno-associated virus according to any one of items of the third aspect according to the present invention, wherein the non-natural amino acid further links to a labeling group, such as fluorescence labeling group, or a labeling group capable of occurring a click chemistry with azide.

[0032] In embodiments of the present invention, the labeling group is Alexa fluorescence group, such as Alexa 488 or Alexa 555. In some specific embodiments, the labeling group is DIBO-Alexa 488 or DIBO-Alexa 555.

[0033] In embodiments of the present invention, a DIBO-containing labeling molecule is linked to an azido-containing non-natural amino acid via a click chemistry, especially a copper-free click chemistry.

[0034] The adeno-associated virus according to any one of items of the third aspect according to the present invention, wherein the non-natural amino acid further links to another functional molecule, such as targeting molecule, preferably, the targeting molecule further links to a group capable of occurring click chemistry with an azide, such as DIBO (dibenzocyclooctyne), cyclooctyne, alkynyl.

[0035] In the present invention, the targeting molecules include any molecules having targeting function known in the prior art, which are substances capable of targeting cells, tissues or organs, for example, which may refer to substances capable of specifically binding to proteins or nucleic acids (e.g., epidermal growth factor receptors, epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinases, vascular endothelial growth factor receptors, leukocyte differentiation antigens, integrins, acetylcholine receptors, folate receptors) on surface or in cellular internal (e.g., specific subcellular fractions or organelles) of a kind or group of specific cells (e.g., tumor cells, immune cells), and the targeting molecules can be for example antigens, ligands, signal peptides, toxins, nucleic acids, polysaccharides, folic acids, etc. The targeting molecule can additionally promote a fraction to which it links enters a target cell, tissue or organ.

[0036] In embodiments of the present invention, the targeting molecules refer to molecules capable of targeting tumor cell surface proteins, such as molecules capable of binding to integrins on tumor cell surface, for example, RGD, especially cyclic RGD.

[0037] The adeno-associated virus according to any one of items of the third aspect according to the present invention, which carries a functional nucleic acid fragment or a nucleic acid fragment of a labeling molecule.

[0038] In the present invention, the functional nucleic acid fragment can act as a functional protein or nucleic acid in a cell, a tissue or an organ, wherein the functional protein is a protein having activity on the cell, tissue or organ well known in the art, for example, a cytotoxin, a tumor necrosis factor, an apoptosis-promoting protein, a growth hormone, an interferon, a neurotrophic factor, and the functional nucleic acid is a nucleic acid molecule have activity as well known in the art, for example, a RNA molecule, such as small interfering RNA, micro-RNA, etc.

[0039] In the present invention, the labeling molecule is a molecule having labeling function as well known in the art, for example, a fluorescence molecule, a polypeptide, an antibody, an enzyme, a functional small molecular compound, etc.

[0040] In embodiments of the present invention, the functional nucleic acid fragment refers to a nucleic acid fragment encoding an apoptosis-inducing ligand associated with thymidine kinase or tumor necrosis factor.

[0041] In embodiments of the present invention, the nucleic acid fragment of the labeling molecule refers to a nucleic acid fragment encoding GFP.

[0042] The forth aspect of the present invention relates to a nucleic acid encoding the adeno-associated virus capsid protein VP1 or fragment thereof according to any one of items of the first aspect of the present invention, the nucleic acid differs from a nucleic acid encoding a corresponding wild type adeno-associated virus capsid protein in that the codon encoding the non-natural amino acid at the specific site amino acid is TAG.

[0043] In one embodiment of the present invention, wherein the codon encoding one amino acid of the amino acids at sites R447, G453, S578, N587, N587+1, S662 of a wild type adeno-associated virus capsid protein VP1 or fragment thereof is mutated as TAG.

[0044] In another embodiment of the present invention, wherein the codon encoding the amino acid at site N587 of a wild type adeno-associated virus capsid protein VP1 or fragment thereof is mutated as TAG.

[0045] The fifth aspect of the present invention relates to a nucleic acid vector, which operably links to the nucleic acid molecule according to any one of items of the forth aspect of the present invention.

[0046] The nucleic acid vector according to any one of items of the fifth aspect of the present invention, wherein the vector is a eukaryotic expression vector or an adeno-associated virus vector.

[0047] In one embodiment of the present invention, which is vector pCMV-VP1-Flag operably linking to the nucleic acid molecule acid molecule according to any one of items of the forth aspect of the present invention.

[0048] In one embodiment of the present invention, which is vector pAAV-RC in which the codon encoding one amino acid of the amino acids at sites R447, G453, S578, N587, N587+1, S662 of a wild type adeno-associated virus capsid protein VP1 or fragment thereof is mutated as TAG.

[0049] The present invention further relates to a host cell, which comprises the nucleic acid vector according to any one items of the fifth aspect of the present invention.

[0050] The host cell according to any one of items of the present invention, further comprises a vector of gene encoding orthogonal amber mutant suppressor aminoacyl-tRNA synthase/tRNA_CUA pairs.

[0051] In embodiments of the present invention, the vector of gene encoding orthogonal amber mutant suppressor aminoacyl-tRNA synthase/tRNA_CUA is a plasmid pACYC-tRNA/PylRS, which is obtained from pACYC-tRNA/PylRS of Escherichia coli with deposition date of June 14, 2011 and deposition number of CGMCC No: 4951.

[0052] The host cell according to any one of items of the present invention, further comprises a pHelper vector and a pAAV-GFP vector.

[0053] In embodiments of the present invention, the host cell is a cell of mammal, the mammal is human, monkey, mouse, bovine, equine, caprine, etc.

[0054] In embodiments of the present invention, the host cell is AAV-293 cell.

[0055] In another embodiment of the present invention, the host cell is HeLa cell.

[0056] In another embodiment of the present invention, the host cell is U87 cell.

[0057] The present invention further relates to a method for preparing a site-specifically mutated adeno-associated virus capsid protein VP1, VP2 or VP3, which comprises the following steps:

(1) cloning a gene of a wild type VP1 protein into a suitable expression vector to obtain a recombinant expression vector;

(2) selecting one or more specific amino acid sites from amino acid sequence of a wild type adeno-associated virus capsid protein VP1 or fragment thereof, preferably, selecting the specific amino acid sites from sites R447, G453, S578, N587, N587+1, S662 of VP1 or fragment thereof;

(3) mutating a codon in the recombination expression vector, which encodes the amino acid of VP1 or fragment thereof at the site selected in step (2), as codon TAG by a genetic engineering method, to obtain a mutant sequence expression vector of the site-specifically mutated VP1 or fragment thereof;

(4) co-transfecting a suitable host cell with the mutant sequence expression vector as obtained in step (3) and a vector of gene encoding orthogonal amber mutant suppressor aminoacyl-tRNA synthase/tRNA_CUA pairs, culturing the successfully co-transfected host cell in a culture media comprising an non-natural amino acid, inducing expression under suitable conditions, to obtain the site-specifically mutated adeno-associated virus capsid protein VP 1 or fragment thereof.

[0058] In one embodiment of the present invention, the specific amino acid site is one site selected from sites R447, G453, S578, N587, N587+1, S662 of VP1 or fragment thereof.

[0059] In another embodiment of the present invention, the specific amino acid site is site N587 of VP1 or fragment thereof.

[0060] In embodiments of the present invention, the suitable vector is eukaryotic expression vector, such as vector pCMV-VP1-flag.

[0061] In embodiments of the present invention, the mutant sequence expression vector is pCMV-VP1-flag-R447, pCMV-VP1-flag-G453, pCMV-VP1-flag-5578, pCMV-VP1-flag-N587, pCMV-VP1-flag-N587+1 or pCMV-VP1-flag-5662.

[0062] In embodiments of the present invention, the vector of gene encoding orthogonal amber mutant suppressor aminoacyl-tRNA synthase/tRNA_CUA is a plasmid pACYC-tRNA/PylRS, which is obtained from pACYC-tRNA/PylRS of Escherichia coli with deposition date of June 14, 2011 and deposition number of CGMCC No: 4951.

[0063] In embodiments of the present invention, the vector co-transfected in step (4) further comprises vectors pHelper and pAAV-GFP.

[0064] In embodiments of the present invention, the suitable host cell in step (4) is an AAV-293 incasing cell.

[0065] In embodiments of the present invention, the non-natural amino acid an azido-containing non-natural amino acid, for example, Nε-2-azideoethyloxycarbonyl-L-lysine (NAEK), or the non-natural amino acid is an non-natural amino acid with structure similar to the above azido-containing non-natural amino acid, for example, DiZPK.

[0066] In embodiments of the present invention, the successfully transfected host cell is cultured in a culturing media comprising 1mM of non-natural amino acid for 48 h.

[0067] The present inventor further relates to a method for preparing a site-specifically mutated adeno-associated virus, which comprises the following steps:

(1) providing a plasmid pAAV-RC (which contains a gene encoding capsid protein VP1, VP2 or VP3) for virus packaging, selecting one or more specific amino acid sites to be mutated from amino acid sequence of a wild-type adeno-associated virus capsid protein VP1 or fragment thereof, preferably, the specific amino acid site is at least one site selected from sites R447, G453, S578, N587, N587+1, S662 of VP1 or fragment thereof;

(2) using the plasmid pAAV-RC of step (1) as template, mutating a codon, which encodes the amino acid of VP1 or fragment thereof at the site selected in step (1), as codon TAG by a genetic engineering method, to obtain a site-specifically mutated virus packaging plasmid;

(3) co-transfecting a host cell with the mutant sequence expression vector obtained in step (3) and a vector of gene encoding orthogonal amber mutant suppressor aminoacyl-tRNA synthase/tRNA_CUA pairs, culturing the successfully co-transfected host cell in a culture media comprising an non-natural amino acid, inducing expression under suitable conditions, to obtain the site-specifically mutated adeno-associated virus.

[0068] In one embodiment of the present invention, the specific amino acid site is one site selected from sites R447, G453, S578, N587, N587+1, S662 of VP1 or fragment thereof.

[0069] In another embodiment of the present invention, the specific amino acid site is site N587 of VP1 or fragment thereof.

[0070] In embodiments of the present invention, the mutant sequence expression vector is pAAV-RC-R447, pAAV-RC-G453, pAAV-RC-5578, pAAV-RC-N587, pAAV-RC-N587+1 or pAAV-RC-S662.

[0071] In embodiments of the present invention, the vector of gene encoding orthogonal amber mutant suppressor aminoacyl-tRNA synthase/tRNA_CUA is a plasmid pACYC-tRNA/PylRS, which is obtained from pACYC-tRNA/PylRS of Escherichia coli with deposition date of June 14, 2011 and deposition number of CGMCC No: 4951.

[0072] In embodiments of the present invention, the vector co-transfected in step (4) further comprises vectors pHelper and pAAV-GFP.

[0073] In embodiments of the present invention, the suitable host cell in step (4) is an AAV-293 incasing cell.

[0074] In embodiments of the present invention, the non-natural amino acid is NAEK or DiZPK.

[0075] In embodiments of the present invention, the successfully transfected host cell is cultured in a culturing media comprising 1mM of non-natural amino acid for 72 h.

[0076] The present invention further relates to a composition (e.g., pharmaceutical composition) or a kit, which comprises the adeno-associated virus according to any one of items of the third aspect of the present invention, or the nucleic acid molecule according to any one of items of the forth aspect, or the nucleic acid vector according to any one of items of the fifth aspect, and optional pharmaceutically acceptable excipients.

[0077] The present invention further relates to a gene vaccine, which comprises the adeno-associated virus according to any one of items of the third aspect of the present invention, or the nucleic acid molecule according to any one of items of the forth aspect, or the nucleic acid vector according to any one of items of the fifth aspect.

[0078] The present invention further relates to a use of the adeno-associated virus according to any one of items of the third aspect of the present invention, or the nucleic acid molecule according to any one of items of the forth aspect, or the nucleic acid vector according to any one of items of the fifth aspect, in manufacture of a preparation for obtaining adeno-associated virus binding protein, or in manufacture of a medicament for gene therapy, or in manufacture of a DNA vaccine.

[0079] The present invention further relates to a use of the adeno-associated virus according to any one of items of the third aspect of the present invention as a tool adeno-associated virus.

[0080] In the present invention, the adeno-associated virus can be used as a tool viral vector, which can carry a functional gene corresponding to specific requirement or couple to a functional molecule on surface thereof, and be used for fundamental researches, gene therapy or manufacture of DNA vaccine.

[0081] The present invention further relates to a gene therapeutic method, the method comprising administering a subject in need with an effective amount of the adeno-associated virus according to any one of items of the third aspect of the present invention, or the nucleic acid molecule according to any one of items of the forth aspect, or the nucleic acid vector according to any one of items of the fifth aspect.

[0082] In embodiments of the present invention, a targeting molecule is coupled to surface of adeno-associated virus with site-specific mutation and modification, and the adeno-associated virus also expresses functional protein at the same time, the adeno-associated virus can be targeted to a specific cell by using the targeting molecule, the functional protein specifically exerts activity to the specific cell, so as to fulfill gene therapy.

[0083] In embodiments of the present invention, a targeting molecule cyclic RGD is coupled to surface of adeno-associated virus with site-specific mutation and modification, and the adeno-associated virus also expresses functional protein TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand or thymidine kinase at the same time, the adeno-associated virus can be targeted to a tumor cell expressing high level of integrin by using the targeting molecule, the functional protein specifically exerts activity to the tumor cell, so as to fulfill gene therapy.

[0084] In the present invention, the adeno-associated virus can be adeno-associated viruses of various serotypes, for example, can be AAV1, AAV2, AAV5, AAV6, AAV7, AAV8, AAV9. In embodiments of the present invention, the adeno-associated virus is AAV2. When using adeno-associated virus of other serotypes, those skilled in the art well know that a plasmid comprising an encoding sequence of corresponding capsid protein can be selected for a different viral capsid protein.

[0085] In the present invention, the adeno-associated virus and adeno-associated virus vector have the same meaning.

[0086] In the present invention, the mutated amino acid sites of VP1 are all based on VP1 of type AAV2 adeno-associated virus standard strain (which amino acid sequence is shown in SEQ ID NO:1); if adenoviruses of other types are used, those skilled in the art can obtain sites corresponding to mutation sites R447, G453, S578, N587, N587+1, S662 of the present invention according to amino acid sequences of other types adenovirus VP1.

[0087] In the present invention, the fragment of VP1 refers to a protein formed with part of sequence of VP1, especially a protein formed with its C-terminal sequence, for example, which refers to capsid protein VP2 or capsid protein VP3; wherein VP2 is a protein formed with 598 amino acids at C-terminal of VP1, VP3 is a protein formed with 533 amino acids at C-terminal of VP 1.

[0088] In the present invention, the amino acid sites of the fragment of VP1 are defined like those of VP1; for example, the amino acid at site R447 of VP2 as mentioned in the present invention corresponds to the amino acid at actual site R310 of VP2.

[0089] In the present invention, when adeno-associated virus VP1 or fragment thereof is mentioned, it is described by the sequence as shown in SEQ ID NO: 1. For example, expression "amino acid at site R447 of VP1 or fragment thereof" refers to the amino acid residue at site R447 of the polypeptide as shown in SEQ ID NO: 1. However, those skilled in the art would understand that the amino acid sequence of adeno-associated virus VP1 may have naturally generated or artificially introduced mutations or variations (including, but not being limited to, replacement, deficiency and/or addition, for example, various serotypes or chimeric serotypes of adeno-associated virus VP1 or fragments thereof or mutants thereof), with proviso that its biological functions are not influenced. Hence, in the present invention, the term "VP1 or fragment thereof" should include all of these sequences, for example, include the sequence as shown in SEQ ID NO: 1 and its natural or artificial variants. In addition, when fragment of VP1 sequence is mentioned, it not only includes the fragments of SEQ ID NO: 1, but also includes corresponding fragments of sequences of natural or artificial variants of VP 1. For example, the expression "amino acid at site R447 of VP1" refers to the amino acid residue at site R447 of SEQ ID NO: 1, and corresponding amino acid residues of its (natural or artificial) variants. According to the present invention, the expression "corresponding site" refers to sites at equivalent positions of sequences in an optimum comparison for obtaining the highest percentage of identity.

[0090] In the present invention, the algorithm used for determine sequence identity and sequence similarity is for example, BLAST or BLAST 2.0 algorithm, they are separately described by Altschul, et al, (1977) Nucl. Acid. Res. 25: 3389-3402, and Altschul, et al, (1990) J. Mol. Biol. 215: 403-410. When using parameters of the references or default parameters, BLAST and BLAST 2.0 can be used to determine the identity percentage of amino acid sequence of the present invention. The software for executing BLAST analysis can be obtained by public from the National Center of Biotechnology Information.

[0091] In the present invention, the amino acid sequences having at least 90% sequence identity in comparison with the amino acid sequence include polypeptide sequences substantively identical to the amino acid sequence. For example, when the method of the present invention (e.g., BLAST analysis with standard parameters) is used, these sequences have at least 90% sequence identity, preferably at least 91%, 92 %, 93 %, 94 %, 95 %, 96 %, 97 %, 98 % or 99 % or higher sequence identity, in comparison with the polypeptide sequence of the present invention.

[0092] In embodiments of the present invention, the type AAV2 adeno-associated virus refers to a type AAV2 adeno-associated virus standard strain, which has an amino acid sequence of VP1 as shown in SEQ ID NO: 1.

[0093] In the present invention, the adeno-associated virus capsid protein is encoded by adeno-associated virus cap gene, which separately encodes 3 structural proteins VP1, VP2 and VP3, with molecular weights of 87, 73, 61kDa, respectively.

[0094] In the present invention, the non-natural amino acid can be any non-natural amino acids known in the prior art, for example, an azido non-natural amino acid, a photo-crosslinking non-natural amino acid, a keto non-natural amino acid, an alkynyl non-natural amino acid, an acetyl non-natural amino acid, a phosphoryl non-natural amino acid, a methyl non-natural amino acid, which meanings can be seen in references [21], [22].

[0095] In the present invention, the gene therapy refers to a method in which an exogenous gene is inserted in a suitable target cell by gene transfer techniques so that a product generated by the exogenous gene can be used to treat a disease. Generally, the gene therapy may further comprise means and techniques used under DNA levels for treatment of some diseases.

[0096] In the present invention, the DNA vaccine is also called as nucleic acid vaccine or gene vaccine, and refers to a eukaryotic expression plasmid DNA (may also be RNA in some cases) or viral expression vector (e.g., adeno-associated virus vector) encoding an immunogen or an immunogen-associated protein, which can enter an animal body via a certain route, after being uptaking by host cells, transcript and translate to express the immunogen or immunogen-associated protein, and the protein can stimulate the body to generate non-specific and/or specific immune response, thereby exerting immune protection function.

[0097] In the present invention, the N587+1 refers to inserting an non-natural amino acid between N587 and R588; when constructing the expression plasmid, TAG is inserted between codons of N587 and R588; N450+1, N385+1 have similar meanings.

[0098] In the present invention, the adeno-associated viruses with specific mutation and modification of non-natural amino acids are equivalent to wild-type adeno-associated virus in terms of production, transfection, movement and transportation, and it is confirmed that they can be used to improve transduction efficiency and normally carry a functional gene by further coupling the non-natural amino acids to other functional molecules such as targeting molecules, which indicates that the site-specifically mutated adeno-associated viruses can be used as tool adeno-associated viruses, and used for finding adeno-associated virus binding proteins or as targeting gene therapy carriers as well as in various fields relating to adeno-associated viruses.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0099] 

Fig.1 shows a schematic process for modifying an adeno-associated virus on basis of click chemistry;
A refers to that AAV2 particle can be site-specifically modified by genetically coded azido-containing amino acid NAEK; B refers to that it can be tagged with a fluorescence molecule via biological orthogonal reaction.

Fig.2 shows that NAEK can be effectively and genetically inserted in AAV capsid protein VP1;

A, selection of site for inserting NAEK into VP1;

B, amber termination codon-carrying NAEK-dependent VP1 expression separately at 14 sites;

C, Coomassie brilliant blue stain and intramicellar fluorescein stain of DIBO-Alexa488-tagged VP1 protein, in which coupling depends on NAEK presentation on VP1 surface.

D, MS/MS fragment spectrum of purified and trypsinized VP1^G453NAEK, in which the site of NAEK is labeled with g.

Fig.3 shows that AAV2 particle can be site-specifically tagged with a genetically encoded azido label;

A shows a diagrammatic figures of main capsid protein and viral capsid of AAV2 obtained by atomic structure (from protein database) of Xie, et al, in which the inserted Arg447 site (red) is labeled;

B shows GFP expression results detected after 48 h of transfection with virus extracts of AAV-293 incasing cells which are cultured by transfecting HT-1080 cells then adding (+) or not adding (-) NAEK, in which proportional scale is equivalent to 100µm;

C shows calculated virus titers of HT-1080 cells transfected with a series of diluted rAAVr, in which error bar represents a standard deviation of mean of 3 tests, and ordinate represents functional titer (×10⁷ virus particles/ml).

Fig.4 shows NAEK is successfully inserted at different sites of AAV2 capsid;
Mutant virus generated on basis of NAEK are co-cultured with HT-1080 cells for 48 h, and GFP expression is reported if the mutant virus is successfully transferred into HT-1080 cells; the results show that R447-AAV2 and S568-AAV2 are substantially equivalent to wild-type virus in viral infectivity.

Fig.5 shows NAEK cannot be inserted into AAV2 at some sites.

Fig.6 shows AAV2-GFP virus particles can be site-specifically tagged by a genetically encoded NAEK label.

A and B show mode patterns of main AAV2 capsid protein and AAV2 virus particles; AAV2-GFP can be successfully mutated at sites R447, G453, S578, N587, S662 with an amino acid-carrying adize compound (NAEK).

C and D show that AAV2-GFP cannot be mutated at sites S261, N381, Y444, S458, S492, Y500, F534, T573.

E shows the calculated viral titers of HT-1080 cells transduced with a serially diluted AAV2-GFP, in which error bar represents a standard deviation of mean of 3 repeated tests.

F shows GFP quantitation via Q-PCR using genome titers of AAV2-GFP incorporated at different sites with NAEK.

Fig.7 shows viral surface is successfully modified with Alexa 488;

A shows fluorescence tagged NAEK; wild-type virus (WT AAV2), NAEK-tagged virus (R447-AAV2) particles and S578-AAV2 virus particles are co-cultured at 37°C for 30 min with Hela cells in which DIBO-Alexa 488 (green) is added or not, then fixed, permeabilized, and immune stained (red) with mouse monoclonal antibody (A20 clone) for integral AAV2; the azido tag (green) and R447-AAV2 particles (red) for labeling are co-localized; overlapped green and red signals show a yellow color of fused images; AAV2 in first row is not co-cultured with A20 antibody, and used as negative control; and proportional scale is equivalent to 10µm.

B and C show that AAV reacted or unreacted with DIBO-Alexa 488 is detected by SDS-PAGE, in which Alexa 488 (C) is detected by 488 nm transmission light, and then gel is stained with Coomassie brilliant blue (B).

Fig.8 shows results of confocal microscopy that Alexa 555 is also successfully links to AAV2 via NAEK at sites R447 and S578 of capsid protein.

Fig.9 shows quantitative analysis of viral movement of Alexa 488-tagged AAV2 in cells.

A, B and C show typical trace of movement of Alexa 488-tagged AAV2 in Hela cells; Hela cells are co-cultured with Alexa 488-tagged AAV2 at 4°C for 30 min, then confocal real time imagery is recorded, in which A shows a fluorescence picture, B shows a white-light picture, C shows a picture of overlapped A and B, D shows an enlarged view of selected typical movements.

D shows typical movements of Alexa 488-tagged AAV2, in which 1 is fast and directed movement; 2 is fast and undirected movement; 3 is slow and undirected movement; and E, F, G show time trace of viral speeds.

H shows the trace of Alexa 488-AAV2 are classified as "slow undirected", "fast undirected", and "fast directed", in which "slow undirected" represents slow and undirected movement, "fast undirected" represents fast and undirected movement, "fast directed" represents fast and directed movement, error bar represents standard deviation of mean of 3 tests (195 trace in total), and proportional scale is equivalent to 10µm.

Fig.10 shows a real-time monitored endocytosis process of Alexa488-AAV2 through clathrin coated pit.
After transfection for 24h, cells and Alexa488-tagged AAV2 (green) are co-incubated at 4°C for 30 min, then heated to 37°C to start viral endocytosis, and confocal delayed imagery is recorded. It shows representative trace of Alexa488-AAV2 in Hela cells with expression of mRFP-clathrin (A), and selected read-time imaging frame (B). C shows three dimensional trace (green) of single AAV2 in Hela cells with expression of mRFP-clathrin.

Fig.11 shows gene transduction mediated by cRGD-modified AAV2-GFP vector;

A and B show chemical formulas of RAD-DIBO and RGD-DIBO;

C and D shows expression of integrin separately in Hela cells (left) and U87 cells (right) analyzed by flow cytometry techniques (FACS); expression of αvβ3 integrin is determined by antibody LM609; Alexa488-tagged anti-mouse antibody is used as second antibody for FACS detection (black line); hatchures are results of the negative control.

E and F show that cRGD-tagged vectors have higher gene transduction abilities separately to Hela cells and U87 cells; vectors without RAD/RGD labels and vectors with RAD/RGD labels in same amount are separately incubated with cells at 4°C for 2h; after removing unbound viruses, fresh culture media was added, and expression of GFP is analyzed after 48 h with FACS; the data represent percentage of transgenic cells with expression of eGFP, and the data are represented with mean and standard derivation of 3 repeated tests.

Fig.12 show that RAD/RGD is successfully tagged on surface of AAV2-GFPcapsid protein via "click" reaction between NAEK and DIBO.

A shows that AAV2 ^N587+1/azido (AAV2 is tagged with NAEK between N587 and R588) in dosage of 300 genome copies/cell are separately co-incubated with RAD, RGD, DIBO, RAD-DIBO, RGD-DIBO or a combination thereof at 4°C for 2 h; redundant unreacted molecules are removed by using 100kD Millipore Amicon Ultra-100; after dialysis, the viruses and U87 cells are incubated at 4°C for 2 h; after unbound viruses are removed, fresh culture media is added, and GFP expression is analyzed by FACS after 48 h.

B shows competitive effects of integrin targeted transduction as mediated by AAV2 ^N587+1/azido +RGD; U87 cells and AAV2 ^N587+1/azido +RGD (RGD-modified AAV2) or AAV2 ^N587+1/azido (non-RGD-modified AAV2) are co-incubated at 4°C for 2 h, in dosage of 700 genome copies/cell; after unbound viruses are removed, fresh culture media is added, and GFP expression is analyzed by FACS after 48 h; for the competitive tests, the binding between virus and cells is detected under conditions of 400 µg/ml RAD or RGD peptide, control or LM609 antibody (1:100 dilution), or combination of RGD peptide and LM609 antibody.

Fig.13 show a comparison of transduction efficiencies of different viruses for Hela and U87 tumor cells;
WT AAV2 (wild-type AAV2), AAV2 ^N587+1/azido (NAEK tag is inserted between sites587 and 588 on surface of AAV2 capsid protein), AAV2 ^N587+RAD (RAD peptide is inserted between sites 587 and 588 on surface of AAV2 capsid protein), AAV2 ^N587+RGD (RGD peptide is inserted between sites 587 and 588 on surface of AAV2 capsid protein), AAV2 ^N587+1/azido+RAD (AAV2 is chemically linked to cRAD via NAEK and DIBO), and AAV2 ^N587+1/azido +RGD (AAV2 is chemically linked to cRGD via NAEK and DIBO) and Hela cells (A) or U87 cells (B) are incubated at 4°C for 2 h, in dosage of 700 genome copies/cell; after unbound viruses are removed, fresh culture media is added, and GFP expression is analyzed by fluorescence microscope and FACS after 48 h; the results show that all viruses contain eGFP gene.

Fig.14 shows binding force analysis of vector particles to Hela cells and U87 cells;
Virus vectors in same amount and cells are incubated at 4°C for 2h, then washed with PBS to remove unbound vector particles; the vector particles bound to Hela cells (A) or U87 cells (B) are detected by anti-AAV monoclonal antibody A20 and FACS.

Fig.15 show killing effects of AAV2-TK (thymidine kinase) with different modifications on Hela cells and U87 cells.

A, C, E and G show dose dependent cytotoxicity of Gancyclovir (GCV) on Hela/TK cells in vitro; AAV2-GFP (wild-type AAV2 containing GFP reporter gene), AAV2-TK (wild-type AAV2 containing thymidine kinase gene), and AAV2 ^{N587+1/azido-}TK (AAV2-TK integrated with NAEK at site N587+1), AAV2 ^N587+1/azido+RAD-TK (AAV2-TK is chemically coupled with cRAD via NAEK and DIBO), and AAV2 ^N587+1/azido +RGD-TK (AAV2-TK is chemically coupled with cRGD via NAEK and DIBO), AAV2 ^N587+RAD-TK (AAV2-TK is fused with RAD peptide between its capsid protein surface sites 587 and 588), AAV2 ^N587+RGD-TK (AAV2-TK is fused with RGD between its capsid protein surface sites 587 and 588) are incubated with U87 cells, in dosage of 500 genome copies/cell; these cells are incubated with GCV in different doses for 48h, then cell survival rates are quantified by cell Titer-Glo (promega); MEM culture media is used as negative control.

B, D, F and G shows toxicity and dose-dependency of GCV on U87/TK cells in vitro; AAV2-GFP, AAV2-TK, and AAV2 ^N587+1/azido-TK, AAV2 ^N587+1/azido+RAD-TK and AAV2 ^N587+1/azido +RGD-TK, AAV2 ^N587+RAD-TK_, AAV2 ^N587+RGD -TK are incubated with U87 cells, in dosage of 500 genome copies/cell; these cells are incubated with GCV in different doses for 48h, then cell survival rates are quantified by cell Titer-Glo (promega); MEM culture media is used as negative control.

Fig.16 shows killing effects of AAV2-TRAIL with different modifications on Hela cells and U87 cells;
Different AAV2 vectors containing TRAIL (TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand, tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand) gene are incubated with Hela cells (A) and U87 cells (B), in dosage of 500 genome copies/cell; after 48h, cell survival rates are quantified by cell Titer-Glo (promega); MEM culture media is used as negative control.
Fig.17 shows imaging results of inserting DiZPK into different sites of AAV2 capsid.

Specific Models for Carrying Out the Invention

[0100] The present invention is illustrated in details in conjunction with following examples, but those skilled in the art would understand these examples are used to illustrate the present invention only, rather than to limit the scope of the present invention. If specific conditions are not given in the examples, conventional conditions or conditions recommended by manufacturers are used. If reagents or instruments are not indicated with their manufacturers, they are all commercially available conventional products.

Experimental Materials and Methods

Cell lines, antibodies and reagents

[0101] Culture media for AAV-293, HT-1080 and Hela cells are DMEM culture media (Zhongkemaichen Beijing Science and Technology Co., Ltd.) containing 10% fetal calf serum (PAA, Austria) and 2mM L-glutamine (Zhongkemaichen Beijing Science and Technology Co., Ltd.), and cultured under condition of 5% CO₂. Anti-intact-AAV2 mouse monoclonal antibody (A20 clone) is obtained from ARP Company (American Research Products, Belmont, MA). DIBO-Alexa 488, DIBO-Alexa 555 stains are purchased from Invitrogen.

Synthesis of Nε-2-azidoethyloxycarbonyl-L-lysine (NAEK):

[0102] 

[0103] 2-Bromoethanol (8g,64mmol) and sodium azide (6.24g, 96mmol) were added at room temperature into acetone (60ml) and water (30ml). The reaction mixture solution was refluxed at 60°C for 10h, cooled to room temperature, vacuum evaporated to remove acetone. The residue was extracted with diethyl ether. The organic layer was washed with saline twice, then dried with Na₂SO₄, filtered, distilled, to obtain 2-azido-ethanol (Compound 2), yield 99% (5.5g, 63.2mmol), which is not further purified.

[0104] Compound 2 (5.5g, 63.2mmol) was dissolved in dichloromethane (120ml), the resultant solution was slowly added at -3°C into a suspension of N,N'-carbonyldiimidazole (15.36g, 94.8mmol) dissolved in dichloromethane (55ml). The reaction was carried out under stirring condition for 12 h. Subsequently, 200mL of water was added, the organic layer was washed with saline twice, then dried with Na₂SO₄, filtered and vacuum concentrated, the residue was further purified by silica gel chromatography, eluted with PE/EtOAc (1:1), to obtain Compound 3 in colorless oil form (10.7g, 59mmol), yield 93%.

[0105] Compound 3 (10.7g, 59mmol) was dissolved in dichloromethane (100ml), the resultant solution is added at room temperature into Boc-Lys-OH (12.2g, 49.2mmol) in 1M NaOH aqueous solution (50ml), then added with TBAB (0.16g, 0.01eq). The reaction mixture solution was stirred and reacted for 12 h, cooled to 0°C, then regulated with ice-bathed 1M HCl aqueous solution to have a pH value of 2-3. The water phase was extracted with DCM, and the organic layer was washed with saline twice. Subsequently, the organic layer was dried with Na₂SO₄, filtered and vacuum concentrated. The residue was purified by silica gel chromatography, eluted with PE/EtOAc/HAc (100:100:1), to obtain Compound 4 in colorless oil form (15.1g, 41.94mmol), yield 85%.

[0106] Compound 4 (15.1g, 41.94mmol) was dissolved in dichloromethane (80ml), then slowly added with trifluoroacetic acid (20ml). The reaction solution was stirred and reacted at room temperature for 0.5 h, then vacuum evaporated to remove solvent. The residue was re-dissolved in methanol (5ml), and precipitated in ethyl ether. The precipitate was collected and vacuum dried to obtain Compound 5 in white solid form (6.63g, 25.58mmol), i.e., NAEK, yield 61%.

Synthesis and identification of non-natural amino acid DiZPK:

[0107] The reaction scheme for chemical synthesis of non-natural amino acid DiZPK is as follows:

[0108] As shown in the scheme, 15 mL of raw material 1 (5-hydroxy-2-pentanone) and 40mL of liquid ammonia were stirred and reacted at -40°C for 5h, then cooled to -60°C, slowly added dropwise with NH₂OSO₃H (20 g) in methanol solution, after addition, heated to room temperature, reacted overnight, filtered to remove precipitate. The supernatant was added with triethylamine, slowly added with I₂ under ice-bath condition, until the reaction solution became dark and did nog generate bubbles. After the end of reaction, the solvent was removed by distillation, the product was extracted with ethyl ether and then dried. After ethyl ether ws removed by distillation, the residual liquid was evaporated under reduced pressure to obtain 25.4 g of Product 2 in colorless viscous liquid form.

[0109] The Product 2 was dissolved in pyridine, added at 0°C under stirring with 11 g of TsCl, reacted overnight. After the end of reaction, the reaction solution was poured into a mixture solution of concentrated hydrochloride acid and ice-water, extracted with ethyl ether, the ether layer was washed with 1N hydrochloric acid and 1N NaOH separately. The organic phase was separated by a drying column to obtain 11.8g of Product 3 in colorless viscous liquid form.

[0110] The above Product 3 was dissolved in DMF, added with NaN₃ and reacted at room temperature overnight. After the end of reaction, a large amount of water was added, extracted with ethyl ether. After removal of ethyl ether by distillation, the residual product was dissolved in THF:water (9:1), added with triphenyl phosphine, reacted at room temperature. After the end of reaction, 1N HCl was added and mixed homogeneously, then THF was rotationally dried, unreacted raw materials, PPh₃ and O=PPh₃ were washed off with dichloromethane, the liquid phase was added with 1N NaOH to regulate pH at 12, extracted with dichloromethane to obtain 4.0 g of Product 4.

[0111] 5.2 g of raw material 5 (Boc-Lys-OMe) reacted with carbonyldiimidazole to prepare 5.9 g of Compound 6. Subsequently, Compound 6 was coupled to Product 4 (4.0 g) to obtain Compound 7, which was finally subjected to two-step deprotection to remove Boc and methyl ester, so as to obtain 4.5 g of Product 8, i.e., DiZPK. Results of spectroscopy are as follows:
¹H NMR (400 MHz, D₂O): δ3.10 (1H, t, J = 6.3 Hz), 2.96 (4H, m), 1.25 (10H, m), 0.90 (3H, s); ¹³C NMR (100 MHz, D₂O): 183.63, 160.66, 56.00, 39.80, 39.30, 34.49, 30.84, 29.20, 26.75, 23.92, 22.43, 18.80; HREIMS m/z 308.16937 [M+1]⁺ (calcd for C₁₂H₂₂N₅NaO₃, 308.16931), which confirm that the obtained DiZPK has correct structure.

Culture of incasing cells

[0112] AAV-293 cells (Stratagene) were used to produce recombination infective AAV particles. In the present invention, only AAV2 serotype was prepared and used. AAV-293 cells represented human fetal renal cells with stably transfected type 5 adenovirus DNA, and had adenovirus e1 gene for in vitro preparation of rAAV. In order to prepare rAAV, ADENO-ASSOCIATED VIRUS-293 cells were cultured in DMEM culture media, and added with 10% fetal calf serum, 4mM L-glutamine and 4.5 g/L glucose, the culture conditions were 37°C, 5%CO₂. After the cells were cultured to spread 60-70% area, triple co-transfection of AAV plasmid started.

Plasmid construction

[0113] Expression plasmid vectors pAAV-RC, pHelper and pAAV-GFP (Agilent, Santa Clara, CA) were used in the experiment. The construct contained AAV and adenovirus genes for preparing infectious AAV particles. The pAAV-RC provided rep gene and cap gene separately for encoding AAV replication and capsid protein. The pHelper vector contained adenovirus E2A, E4 and VA genes, and the pAAV-GFP contained GFP reporter gene. This reporter vector represents ITR-containing plasmid, and the plasmid had cmv promoter. The pAAV-RC-R447 plasmid was prepared by using Quik Change Lightning Site-Directed Mutagenesis Kit (Agilent), in which the genetic code of arginine residue at site 447 of AAV capsid protein VP1 is mutated as TAG. Other mutant plasmids were constructed by same methods.

[0114] The pACYC-tRNA/PylRS containing a gene encoding orthogonal amber mutant suppressor aminoacyl-tRNA synthase/tRNA_CUA was a gift of Professor CHEN Peng of College of Chemistry of Peking University (Duy P. Nguyen, Hrvoje Lusic, Heinz Neumann, Prashant B. Kapadnis, Alexander Deiters, and Jason W. Chin. Genetic Encoding and Labeling of Aliphatic Azides and Alkynes in Recombinant Proteins via a Pyrrolysyl-tRNA Synthetase/tRNACUAPair and Click Chemistry. J. AM. CHEM. SOC. 2009, 131, 8720-8721).

[0115] The plasmid pACYC-tRNA/PylRS was obtained from Escheoichia coli pACYC-tRNA / PylRS (a gift of Professor CHEN Peng of College of Chemistry of Peking University), which contained plasmid pACYC-tRNA / PylRS and named as Eschenichia coli, and deposited in China General Microbiological Culture Collection Center (Address: NO.1 West Beichen Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences) on June 14, 2011 with a deposition number of CGMCC No: 4951. The plasmid could be used to express tRNA and tRNA synthase for specifically identifying non-natural amino acids DiZPK and NAEK, the deposition information thereof had been disclosed in the patent application with publication number of CN102838663A.

Preparation and purification of AAV

[0116] In AAV Helper-Free System, azido-tagged AAV2 infectious particles (e.g., R447-AAV2 vector) was prepared, and assistant adenovirus or herpes virus were not used in infection. AAV2 plasmid vector pAAV-RC, pHelper, pAAV-GFP and vector pACYC-tRNA / PylRS (molar ratio = 1:1:1:2) were used for transient co-transfection of AAV-293 incasing cells by calcium phosphate precipitation method. After 6 h of transfection, the cell culture media was replaced with a fresh culture media containing 1mM NAEK. After 72h, infected cells were collected. In order to release rAAV virus particles, the infected cells were lysed by freeze-thaw method. Separation and purification processes were carried out by referring to the operations of Ping Guo, et al (Guo P, El-Gohary Y, Prasadan K, Shiota C, Xiao X, Wiersch J, Paredes J, Tulachan S, Gittes GK: Rapid and simplified purification of recombinant adeno-associated virus. J Virol Methods, 183(2):139-146).

Determination of viral titer

[0117] AAV-HT1080 cells were cultured in 6-well tissue culture plate, each well had 2ml of DMEM culture media, and cell density was 3 × 10⁵/well. Culture was carried out at 37°C overnight. The cells were culture to spread about 50% area. Virus storing solution was diluted by 10 times. On the basis of 10 times dilution, dilution by 5 times was performed in volume of 5 ml, and concentrations ranged from 2 × 10^-2 to 8 × 10^-4. The diluted solutions in volume of 1ml were added into wells of the 6-well plate, 3 wells for each titer. In the meantime, the well without adding virus storing solution was used as negative control. Incubation was performed at 37°C for 1-2 h. During incubation, the culture plate was gently vortex shaken at intervals of 30 min. Subsequently, each well was added with 1 ml of pre-heated H-DMEM and cultured at 37°C for 40-48h. The pAAV-hrGFP AAV infected cells were detected by FACS.

Quantification of genome copies by using real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR)

[0118] The genome copies of vectors were quantified by using Mx3000P real-time PCR meter (Agilent Technologies, La Jolla, CA, USA), in which the GFP gene-specific primer pair was: 5'-AAGCAGCACGACTTCTTCAAGTC-3' (SEQ ID NO: 31) (forward) and 5'-TCGCCCTCGAACTTCACCTC-3' (SEQ ID NO: 32) (reverse). The detail of method can be seen in the published operation guide ^[20].

Fluorescence probe ligation

[0119] For fluorescence labeling of AAV2-azido, the purified virus particles were incubated with Alexa488-DIBO or Alexa 555 (500 µM) at room temperature at pH7.0 for 2 h. 100kD Millipore Amicon Ultra-100 was used to remove unreacted stains.

[0120] The method for linking targeting molecule cRGD was similar to that for fluorescence probe ligation.

Confocal imaging

[0121] Alexa488-tagged AAV2 and Hela cells were co-cultured in a glass bottom culture dish at 37°C for 30min, then the cells were fixed with phosphate buffer solution (pH 7.0) (PBS) containing 4% paraformaldehyde for 15 min. Subsequently, the cells were permeabilized in PBS solution containing 0.5% Triton X-100 for 10 min, and sealed with PBS containing 3% bovine serum albumin (BSA) for 60 min. Subsequently, the cells were incubated with anti-intact AAV2 mouse monoclonal antibody (A20) at 4°C overnight, and then incubated at room temperature for 1 h with a second antibody (life technology) that links to Alexa594. The cell nucleus were stained with DAPI (Sigma). Imagery was performed by confocal laser-scanning microscopy (SP8 Series, Leica, Germany).

Imagery of living cells

[0122] In order to real-time observe movement of Alexa488-AAV2, Hela cells were inoculated in glass bottom culture dish, cultured at 37°C overnight. Subsequently, Alexa488-tagged AAV2 and Hela cells were co-cultured at 4°C for 30 min, and then confocal real-time imagery was recorded by using a living cell imaging system (PerkinElmer, MA, USA).

[0123] Example 1: Mutation site selection and mutant primer design for adeno-associated virus capsid protein

(1) Selection of mutation sites

[0124] In the adeno-associated virus capsid protein VP1, the mutation sites as shown in Table 1 were selected, wherein the amino acid sequence of VP1 protein was as follows:

the nucleotide sequence for VP1 protein was as follows:

Table 1: Mutation sites

Amino acid site	Amino acid	Codon before mutation	Codon after mutation
261	S	TCC	TAG
381	N	AAC
444	Y	TAC
447	R	AGA
453	G	GGA
458	S	TCA
492	S	TCT
500	Y	TAC
534	F	TTT
573	T	ACG
578	S	TCT
587	N	AAC
662	S	AGT

[0125] The sites in Table 1 are sites in VP1 protein.

(2) Design of mutant primers

[0126] In order to site-specifically mutate the sites in Table 1, the mutant primers in Table 2 were designed (which could be also used as sequencing primers).

Table 2: List of mutant primers

SEQ ID NO	Mutation site	Primer direction	Primer sequence
3	VP1Y444	#1	CTCATCGACCAGTACCTGTATTAGTTGAGCAGAACAAACAC
4	VP1Y444	#2	GTGTTTGTTCTGCTCAACTAATACAGGTACTGGTCGATGAG
5	VP1G453	#1	GCAGAACAAACACTCCAAGTTAGACCACCACGCAGTCAAGGC
6	VP1G453	#2	GCCTTGACTGCGTGGTGGTCTAACTTGGAGTGTTTGTTCTGC
7	VP1S458	#1	CAAGTGGAACCACCACGCAGTAGAGGCTTCAGTTTTCTC
8	VP1S458	#2	GAGAAAACTGAAGCCTCTACTGCGTGGTGGTTCCACTTG
9	VP1S492	#1	CAGCAGCGAGTATCAAAGACATAGGCGGATAACAACAACAGTG
10	VP1S492	#2	CACTGTTGTTGTTATCCGCCTATGTCTTTGATACTCGCTGCTG
11	VP1Y500	#1	GGATAACAACAACAGTGAATAGTCGTGGACTGGAGCTACC
12	VP1Y500	#2	GGTAGCTCCAGTCCACGACTATTCACTGTTGTTGTTATCC
13	VP1S578	#1	GGCTACGGAGCAGTATGGTTAGGTATCTACCAACCTCC
14	VP1S578	#2	GGAGGTTGGTAGATACCTAACCATACTGCTCCGTAGCC
15	VP1N587+1	#1	CCAACCTCCAGAGAGGCAACTAGAGACAAGCAGCTACCGC
16	VP1N587+1	#2	GCGGTAGCTGCTTGTCTCTAGTTGCCTCTCTGGAGGTTGG
17	VP1S662	#1	CGAATCCTTCGACCACCTTCTAGGCGGCAAAGTTTGCTTCC
18	VP1S662	#2	GGAAGCAAACTTTGCCGCCTAGAAGGTGGTCGAAGGATTCG
19	VP1 S261	#1	CACCTCTACAAACAAATTTAGAGCCAATCAGGAGCCTCGAAC
20	VP1 S261	#2	GTTCGAGGCTCCTGATTGGCTCTAAATTTGTTTGTAGAGGTG
21	VP1 N381	#1	CAGTATGGATACCTCACCCTGTAGAACGGGAGTCAGGCAG
22	VP1 N381	#2	CTGCCTGACTCCCGTTCTACAGGGTGAGGTATCCATACTG
23	VP1 R447	#1	CAGTACCTGTATTACTTGAGCTAGACAAACACTCCAAGTGGAACC
24	VP1 R447	#2	GGTTCCACTTGGAGTGTTTGTCTAGCTCAAGTAATACAGGTACTG
25	VP1 F534	#1	GGACGATGAAGAAAAGTTTTAGCCTCAGAGCGGGGTTCTCATC
26	VP1 F534	#2	GATGAGAACCCCGCTCTGAGGCTAAAACTTTTCTTCATCGTCC
27	VP1 T573	#1	GGACAACCAATCCCGTGGCTTAGGAGCAGTATGGTTCTG
28	VP1 T573	#2	CAGAACCATACTGCTCCTAAGCCACGGGATTGGTTGTCC
29	VP1 N587	#1	CTACCAACCTCCAGAGAGGCTAGAGACAAGCAGCTACC
30	VP1 N587	#2	GGTAGCTGCTTGTCTCTAGCCTCTCTGGAGGTTGGTAG

[0127] In Table 2, #1 represents forward primer, #2 represents reverse primer; 587+1 represents an non-natural amino acid was inserted after site 587, i.e., the non-natural amino acid was inserted between site 587 and site 588.

Example 2: Expression and detection of adeno-associated virus VP1 mutant protein

[0128] Firstly, we observed the compatibility of orthogonal amber mutant suppresser aminoacyl-tRNA synthase/tRNA_CUA system in AAVcapsid protein VP1 expression. VP1 gene was cloned into vector pCMV-FLAG (FLAG tag at C-terminal), to obtain VP1 coding vector pCMV-VP1-FLAG. By using Quik Change Lightning Site-Directed Mutagenesis Kit (Agilent) according to its instruction, the codons in the vector that encode residues S261, N381, Y444, R447, G453, S458, S492, Y500, F534, T573, S578, N587, N587+1, S662 were mutated as amber termination codon (TAG) by using pCMV-VP1-FLAG plasmid as template and using the mutant primers as listed in Table 2. The sequencing results show that these mutations had been successfully introduced. The plasmid obtained by mutation at site R447 was named as pCMV-VP1-FLAG-R447, which represented that the genetic codon of arginine residue at site 447 of AAVcapsid protein VP1 was mutated as TAG, and other plasmids obtained after mutation were named according to the same principle.

[0129] Subsequently, it was verified whether the mutant plasmid could correctly exhibit NAEK in 293T cells via co-expression of NAEK-specific orthogonal tRNA/aaRS vector. The results of Western blotting showed that when the 293T cells were cultured in a culture media containing NAEK, all mutant VP1 proteins could be detected by using anti-FLAG antibody; the expression levels of mutant VP1 were about 10-100% that of wild-type protein upon different mutation sites (Fig.2A, 2B). If the 293T cells were cultured under conditions without NAEK, VP1 proteins could be detected. Further, NAEK was inserted at site G453 of VP1 and the exhibition of NAEK was confirmed by MS/MS sequencing (Fig.2D).

[0130] In addition, the orthogonal reactions with DIBO-Alexa488 (a fluorescence tag of single virus) under moderate conditions also confirmed that NAEK was inserted in VP1 protein (Fig.2C), and bright green fluorescence was observed when mutant VP1 protein and fluorescence group were co-incubated at 4°C for 1 h. With regard to wild-type VP1 protein or mutant VP1 proteins without being treated with fluorescence group, green signal was not observed (Fig.2C). The experimental results indicated that NAEK was successfully tagged on VP1 protein, and other molecules could be further coupled via NAEK.

Example 3: Site-specifically mutated adeno-associated virus and detection thereof

[0131] In the present invention, genetic code expanding techniques were used to site-specifically tag AAV2 by introducing azido-containing amino acid NAEK into virus capsid.

[0132] By using Quik Change Lightning Site-Directed Mutagenesis Kit (Agilent) according to its instruction, mutations were fulfilled by using pAAV-RC plasmid as template and using the mutant primers as listed in Table 2. The sequencing results showed that these mutations were successfully introduced. The plasmid obtained by mutation at site R447 was named as pAAV-RC-R447, which represented that the genetic codon of arginine residue at site 447 of AAV capsid protein VP1 was mutated as TAG, and other plasmids obtained after mutation were named according to the same principle.

[0133] As shown in Fig.3A, the present invention used genetic methods to insert azido-containing non-natural amino acid at amino acid site 447 of VP1/VP2/VP3 zones where cap gene was located. Correspondingly, the genetic codon of AAV2 capsid protein encoding plasmid pAAV-RC was mutated, i.e., mutated as amber terminal codon TAG. Subsequently, in the presence of NAEK, mutant plasmid pAAV-RC-R447 was used for passage of azido-containing AAV2 (R447-AAV2) particles by co-expression of NAEK specific orthogonal tRNA/aaRS pair (pACYC-tRNA / PylRS vector), pHelper vector and pAAV-GFP vector in AAV-293 incasing cells (see details in section of "Materials and Methods"). After 72 h, cell lysate was collected, diluted by 10 times and added to HT-1080 cells, and fluorescence microscopy was used to detect whether mutant viruses were produced.

[0134] The NAEK-containing cell lysate obtained after mutant plasmid transfection was used to transfect HT-1080 cells, and we found very strong green fluorescence in HT-1080 cells after HT-1080 cells were transfected for 48 h, which was almost equivalent to that of wild-type, but shoed no significant difference from NAEK (see Fig.3B, 3C).

[0135] Specific experimental methods could be seen in "Preparation and purification of AAV" in section of materials and methods.

[0136] NAEK could be inserted at sites G453, S578, N587, N587+1, S662, besides site R447 (see Fig.4, Fig.6A, Fig.6B). However, sites S261, N381, Y444, S458, S492, Y500, F534, T573 could not be tagged with NAEK (see Fig.5, Fig.6C, Fig.6D). The specific experimental method were the same as above.

[0137] This indicated that due to the presence of NAEK, it was successful to use mutant AAV2 capsid to package ADENO-ASSOCIATED VIRUS. In addition, both of modified or untagged AAV2 carrying GFP reporter gene were used to infect HT-1080 cells, and to detect viral titer, and qPCR was used to detect viral genome titer. The functional titer values of R447-AAV2 and S578-AAV2 (transfection unit/ml) were equivalent to that of WT-AAV2 (see: Fig.6E, Fig.6F), which showed that introducing azido tag had very small influence on production and transfection ability of AAV2 particles.

Example 4: Fluorescence modification of AAV2 site-specifically labeled with NAEK

[0138] In Example 3, we obtained the AAV2 that was site-specifically labeled with NAEK, the azido tag in NAEK label on AAV2 could be used together with DIBO-fluorescence molecule to site-specifically couple a fluorescence group to surface of viral particles via copper-free click chemistry (see Fig. 1).

[0139] Copper-free click chemistry is a means of achieving click reactions while maintaining cell viability through the introduction of cyclooctynes, wherein the strain in eight-membered ring allows the reaction with azides to occur in the absence of catalysts. One of such reagents is comprised of the so-called DIBO compounds^[18]. Azide-modified macromolecules can now be labeled without a metal catalyst, which not only is useful in studying living cells but also prevents damage of proteins.

[0140] To determine whether an azido tag could bioorthogonally react with Alexa 488 under facile and mild conditions (25°C for 2 hours), the purified wild-type AAV2 (WT-AAV2) and azido-tagged AAV2 particles (R447-AAV2 and S578-AAV2) were produced and reacted with DIBO-Alexa 488 at room temperature for 2 hours, and the reaction buffer was replaced by PBS using 100kD Millipore Amicon Ultra-100. Subsequently, the viral particle-containing solutions were overlaid onto HeLa cells and immunostained with an antibody specific for intact AAV2 particles. The specific experimental methods could be seen in "fluorescence probe ligation: and "confocal imaging" of the section of Experimental materials and methods.

[0141] Most of the hydrazide signals were co-localized with the AAV2 signals (see: Fig.7A), whereas no significant hydrazide signals were observed for viral particles lacking the azido tag (see: Fig.7A), indicating that azido groups were efficiently expressed on the surface of AAV2. The label of green fluorescence on AAV2 capsid proteins VP1/VP2/VP3 was further confirmed by SDS-PAGE image, whereas no signal was detected in WT-AAV2 (see: Fig.7B, Fig.7C).

[0142] Clearly, NAEK was site-specifically displayed on the mutant viruses and fluorophore was indeed coupled to mutant virus via NAEK. Not only R447-AAV2, but also S578-AAV2 was indeed successfully coupled with Alexa 488 (see: Fig.7A, 7B, 7C).

[0143] Furthermore, another fluorophore, Alexa 555, could also be ligated to AAV2 via NAEK (see: Fig.8) by the same method as above. The above results demonstrated that this azido tag enabled covalent attachment of fluorescent probes to AAV2 particles in a site-specific manner.

[0144] It should be noticed that bioorthogonal reaction of viruses with Alexa 488 or 555 had very little, if any, effect on the infectivity of fluorescence-labeled viruses, clearly due to the facile and mild condition (incubated at 25°C for 2 hours) and also the small size of the probe, NAEK-DIBO-Alexa 488 or 555. It estimates that the probe was approximately 2.6868 nm according to Chem 3D software, just around 1% the size of a single AAV2.

Example 5: Observing single virus movement using fluorescently-labeled AAV2

[0145] Having established the approach for site-specific labeling of AAV2 with Alexa 488, the present invention tested whether such labeling could be used for single virus tracking.

[0146] The mutant virus carrying Alexa 488 at site 447 were added to HeLa cells. After incubation at 4°C for 30 min to synchronize the binding, these viruses were monitored under confocal microscopy by real-time imaging, in which specific experimental methods could be seen in "Confocal imaging" in the section of experimental materials and methods. Various types of intracellular movements of viral particles were observed during imaging, and representative trace of Alexa 488-labeled AAV2 in HeLa cells were shown in Fig.9 (see: Fig.9A, 9B, 9C).

[0147] Based on the two dimensional data analysis of the three dimensional AAV2 particle movements, we found that many particles exhibited relatively slow movements (e.g., the pink trace in Fig.9D), while some particles showed fast and directed transport (e.g., orange trace in Fig.9D)^[19]. Fig.9D, 9E and 9F showed time trace of viral speeds.

[0148] In our analysis, the trace having a peak speed ≥0.002µm/s and containing unidirectional movement in more than 5 consecutive frames were defined as directed transport, trace with fast (≥0.002µm/s) but undirectional movement were defined as fast undirected transport, and trace with slow (≤0.002µm/s) and undirectional movements were defined as slow undirected transport.

[0149] Using these definitions, 16.3% of Alexa-AAV2 trace were fast and directed, 24.7% of Alexa-AAV2 trace were fast but undirected, whereas the remaining were slow undirected transport (Fig.9H).

[0150] In order to real-time monitoring the interaction between AAV2 and clathrin, Alexa 488-tagged viruses were co-incubated with Hela cells in which clathrin fused with red fluorescence protein was expressed, and living cell imaging was carried out by using a time-lapse spinning confocal microscopy. The representative trace and pictures of Alexa 488-AAV2 were shown in Fig.10A. Viral particles (green) firstly were co-localized with clathrin signal (red). This co-localization were continued for about 10 seconds, then the clathrin signal disappeared rapidly, indicating viruses were dissociated from uncoated clathrin vesicles (Fig.10B). In the first 10s of co-localization of viral particles and clathrin signals, the instantaneous diffusion coefficients of viral particles were significantly lower than that after dissociation of clathrin signals (Fig.10C), indicating the viral particles entered cells via the regions defined by clathrin-coated pit.

Example 6: Enhancement effects of conjugation of AAV2 and targeting ligand on cell transduction

[0151] Based on the above experiments, we coupled tumor-targeted motif (cyclic RGD) to AAV2 capsid protein so as to perform targeting delivery of genes. Integrin was was receptor of RGD peptide, and highly expressed in many tumors. Thus, RGD could be used for coating AAV vector to improve delivery efficiency and selectivity of targeted integrin αvβ3 (highly expressed in tumor cells). RAD was a mutant motif of RGD in which glycine was mutated as alanine, and could be used as negative control.

[0152] As shown in Fig.11, the obtained vectors were used to transfect U87 cells (integrin αvβ3 positive cells) and Hela cells (used as negative control). We found that AAV vectors to which RGD coupled at different sites showed different influences on transduction efficiency of U87. At site N587+1, it was observed that transduction efficiency was elevated significantly, by almost 10 times in comparison with the AAV vector that carried RAD and contained azide (control), whereas such elevation was not observed when RGD was coupled to sites 447, 587 and 662. Significant decrease was observed when RGD was coupled to sites 453, 578. As a control, coupling RAD, rather than RGD, to AAV vector had not influence on transduction efficiencies of these sites, indicating RGD played a key role in elevating transduction efficiency. Hence, it was an efficient approach for elevating transduction efficiency of cells that could hardly be transduced to couple RGD to AAV vector at a suitable site, rather than arbitrary sites. As for Hela cells, the conduction efficiency was elevated by only about 20% when RGD was coupled to AAV vector at site 587+1, which might be due to the low expression of integrin αvβ3 on surface of cells (Fig.11C). The results showed that coupling RGD in such site-selective manner was an efficient approach for regulating tendency of AAV vector and elevating gene delivery efficiency.

[0153] In order to further verify that cRGD-labeled AAV2 capsid protein was obtained via "click" reaction between DIBO and NAEK, RAD, RGD, DIBO, RAD-DIBO, RGD-DIBO or a combination thereof was separately incubated with AAV2^{N587+1 azido}. As shown in Fig.12A, only DIBO-RGD group exhibited an enhanced viral transduction efficiency, and only DIBO molecule could competitively inhibit DIBO-RGD. These results indicated that the RGD peptide as tagged on AAV2 capsid protein was linked via only "click" chemistry between NAEK and DIBO.

[0154] In order to verify the above conclusion from another hand, we carried out experiments of using these vectors to competitively inhibit AAV mediated gene delivery. We used a synthesized RGD polypeptide and an anti-integrin antibody to check whether they could inhibit transduction. As shown in Fig.12B, the GFP expression in U87 cells as mediated by AAV^{2N587+1 azido}+RGD vector could be significantly inhibited by the synthesized RGD polypeptide and anti-integrin antibody. These results showed that the interaction between cell surface RGD and integrin was specific.

[0155] Subsequently, we wanted to know whether cRGD-chemically modified AAV2 had better effects than RGD fused on AAV2 surface. As shown in Fig.13, when the cRGD-chemically modified AAV2 and the RGD fused on AAV2 surface were compared with unmodified AAV2 (wild-type AAV2), they both could significantly improve viral transduction efficiency. However, the viral transduction efficiency of the cRGD-chemically modified AAV2 was 1.5 times of that of the RGD fused on AAV2 surface. These results indicated that the method for site-specifically modifying AAV2 in the present invention was superior to the method for virus-targeting AAV2 surface modification.

[0156] In order to reveal why the cRGD chemical modification of AAV2 was superior to the RGD surface fusion of AAV2, we analyzed binding ability of virus to cells. Different kinds of virus with same amount were incubated with U87 cells at 4°C for 2h, then analysis was carried out by using anti-AAV monoclonal A20 and FACS. As shown in Fig.14, in comparison with the unmodified AAV2 or linear RAD modified AAV2, both of the cRGD chemically modified AAV2 and the RGD fusion modified AAV2 showed significant improvement of virus binding ability. However, the binding ability of the cRGD chemically modified AAV2 was still 1.5 times of that of the RGD fusion modified AAV2. The results showed that the cRGD chemically coupled AAV2 had cell binding ability significantly superior to that of the RGD fusion modified AAV2, and thus had better virus targeting effect.

[0157] In the above works, we packaged GFP reporter gene in viral capsid to facilitate researches. If GFP gene was replaced with a therapeutic gene, did virus still exhibit the above features? In the experiments, we packaged herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (HSV-tk) gene and tumor necrosis factor-associated apoptosis ligand (TRAIL) gene, which had cell killing function, into NAEK labeled virus, and cRGD molecule was coupled via NAEK, so as to prepare RGD chemically free modified virus AAV^N587+1/azido+RGD-TK/TRAIL. The experimental results showed that AAV^N587+1/azido+RGD-TK/TRAIL virus had a tumor cell killing effect superior to those of WT-AAV and RGD fusion modified AAV^N587+RGD-TK/TRAIL virus. However, their killing effects on Hela cells with low expression of integrin showed no significant difference. This indicated that the cRGD chemical free modification not only enhanced the killing effects of virus, but also improved the targeting capacity of virus (Fig. 15, 16).

Example 7: Preparation of photocrosslinking non-natural amino acid (DiZPK) site-specifically labeled AAV2

[0158] By using the method same as above, photocrosslinking non-natural amino acid (DiZPK) was site-specifically introduced to AAV2 capsid surface, which could capture new interacted proteins via photocrosslinking during the process that virus entered cells, thereby finding new receptors of virus. As shown in Fig.17, trials had been carried out at sites S261, R447, F534, T573, N587, and it was so far found that DiZPK could be successfully introduced at site N587.

[0159] In view of research results, at site R447, NAEK could be introduced, but DiZPK could not be incorporated, while at site N587, both of these two non-natural amino acids could be incorporated. The reason for this could be that each amino acid residue site of protein molecule had different spatial structure, and required different structure of non-natural amino acid to be introduced.

[0160] Although the present invention have been described in details in the specific models for carrying out the invention, those skilled in the art would understand that these details could be modified and replaced according all disclosed teachings, and all of these changes fall within the protection scope of the present invention. The whole scope of the present invention is given by the affixed claims and any equivalents thereof.

References:

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Claims

1. A site-specifically mutated adeno-associated virus capsid protein VP1 or a fragment thereof, wherein an amino acid at a specific site of a corresponding wild type adeno-associated virus capsid protein VP1 or a fragment thereof is mutated as an non-natural amino acid, and the specific site is at least one site selected from sites R447, G453, S578, N587, N587+1, S662 of VP1 or fragment thereof.

2. The site-specifically mutated adeno-associated virus capsid protein VP1 or a fragment thereof according to claim 1, wherein the non-natural amino acid is selected from an azido non-natural amino acid, a photo-crosslinking non-natural amino acid, a keto non-natural amino acid, an alkynyl non-natural amino acid, an acetyl non-natural amino acid, a phosphoryl non-natural amino acid, and a methyl non-natural amino acid.

3. The site-specifically mutated adeno-associated virus capsid protein VP1 or a fragment thereof according to claim 1, wherein the non-natural amino acid is an azido-containing non-natural amino acid, for example,
Nε-2-azideoethyloxycarbonyl-L-lysine (NAEK),

or the non-natural amino acid is an non-natural amino acid with structure similar to the above azido-containing non-natural amino acid, for example, DiZPK.

4. The site-specifically mutated adeno-associated virus capsid protein VP1 or a fragment thereof according to claim 3, wherein the NAEK and the amino acid sequence of VP1 or fragment thereof are linked in a manner as shown in Formula I:

wherein the direction from R1 to R2 is the direction from N-terminal to C-terminal of the amino acid sequence, in which amino acid at site N is one of amino acids at sites selected from site R447, site G453, site S578, site N587, site N587+1, site S662, R1 is an amino acid residue at site 1 to site N-1 of the amino acid sequence of VP1 or fragment thereof, R2 is an amino acid residue at site N+1 to C-terminal of the amino acid sequence of VP1 or fragment thereof;
wherein the DiZPK and the amino acid sequence of VP1 or fragment thereof are linked in a manner as shown in Formula II:

wherein the direction from R1 to R2 is the direction from N-terminal to C-terminal of the amino acid sequence, in which amino acid at site N is one of amino acids at sites selected from site R447, site G453, site S578, site N587, site N587+1, site S662, R1 is an amino acid residue at site 1 to site N-1 of the amino acid sequence of VP1 protein or fragment thereof, R2 is an amino acid residue at site N+1 to C-terminal of the amino acid sequence of VP1 protein or fragment thereof,
R3 is

5. The site-specifically mutated adeno-associated virus capsid protein VP1 or a fragment thereof according to claim 1, wherein the adeno-associated virus is type II adeno-associated virus.

6. The site-specifically mutated adeno-associated virus capsid protein VP1 or a fragment thereof according to claim 1, wherein the non-natural amino acid further links to a labeling group, such as fluorescence labeling group, or a labeling group capable of occurring a click chemistry with azide; or the non-natural amino acid further links to a targeting molecule, preferably, the targeting molecule further links to a group capable of occurring a click chemistry with azide.

7. A site-specifically mutated adeno-associated virus capsid protein, comprising the adeno-associated virus capsid protein VP1 or fragment thereof according any one of claims 1-5.

8. A site-specifically mutated adeno-associated virus, comprising the adeno-associated virus capsid protein VP1 or fragment thereof according to any one of claims 1-5 or the adeno-associated virus capsid protein according to claim 7.

9. The adeno-associated virus according to claim 8, wherein the non-natural amino acid further links to a labeling group, such as a fluorescence labeling group, or a labeling group capable of occurring a click chemistry with azide.

10. The adeno-associated virus according to claim 8, wherein the non-natural amino acid further links to a targeting molecule, preferably, the targeting molecule further links to a group capable of occurring a click chemistry with azide.

11. The adeno-associated virus according to claim 8, which carries a functional nucleic acid fragment or a nucleic acid fragment of a labeling molecule.

12. A nucleic acid encoding the adeno-associated virus capsid protein VP1 or fragment thereof according to any one of claims 1-5, wherein the nucleic acid differs from a nucleic acid encoding a corresponding wild type adeno-associated virus capsid protein in that a codon encoding the non-natural amino acid at the specific site amino acid is TAG.

13. A nucleic acid vector, which operably links to the nucleic acid molecule according to claim 12.

14. The nucleic acid vector according to claim 13, which is vector pAAV-RC in which a codon encoding a specific site amino acid of a wild type adeno-associated virus capsid protein VP1 or fragment thereof is mutated as TAG, and the specific site is at least one selected from sites R447, G453, S578, N587, N587+1, S662 of the VP1 or fragment thereof.

15. A host cell, which comprises the nucleic acid vector according to claim 13 or 14.

16. The host cell according to claim 15, which further comprises a vector of gene encoding orthogonal amber mutant suppressor aminoacyl-tRNA synthase/tRNA_CUA, for example, is plasmid pACYC-tRNA / PylRS.

17. A method for preparing a site-specifically mutated adeno-associated virus capsid protein VP1 or fragment thereof, which comprises the following steps:

(1) cloning a gene of a wild type VP1 or fragment thereof into a suitable expression vector to obtain a recombinant expression vector;

(2) selecting one or more specific amino acid sites from an amino acid sequence of a wild type adeno-associated virus capsid protein VP1 or fragment thereof, preferably, the specific amino acid sites are at least one site selected from sites R447, G453, S578, N587, N587+1, S662 of the VP1 or fragment thereof;

(3) mutating a codon in the recombination expression vector, which encodes the amino acid of VP1 or fragment thereof at the site selected in step (1), as codon TAG by a genetic engineering method, to obtain a mutant sequence expression vector of the site-specifically mutated VP1 or fragment thereof;

(4) co-transfecting a suitable host cell with the mutant sequence expression vector as obtained in step (3) and a vector of gene encoding orthogonal amber mutant suppressor aminoacyl-tRNA synthase/tRNA_CUA, culturing the successfully co-transfected host cell in a culture media comprising an non-natural amino acid, inducing expression under suitable conditions, to obtain the site-specifically mutated adeno-associated virus capsid protein VP1 or fragment thereof;
preferably, the vector of gene encoding orthogonal amber mutant suppressor aminoacyl-tRNA synthase/tRNA_CUA is a plasmid pACYC-tRNA/PylRS, which is obtained from pACYC-tRNA/PylRS of Escherichia coli with deposition date of June 14, 2011 and deposition number of CGMCC No: 4951;
preferably, the non-natural amino acid is an azido-containing non-natural amino acid, for example, Nε-2-azideoethyloxycarbonyl-L-lysine (NAEK),

or

or the non-natural amino acid is an non-natural amino acid with structure similar to the above azido-containing non-natural amino acid, for example, DiZPK.

18. The method for preparing site-specifically mutated adeno-associated virus, which comprises the following steps:

(1) providing a plasmid pAAV-RC for virus packaging, selecting one or more specific amino acid sites to be mutated from an amino acid sequence of a wild-type adeno-associated virus capsid protein VP1 or fragment thereof, preferably, the specific amino acid site is at least one site selected from sites R447, G453, S578, N587, N587+1, S662 of VP1 or fragment thereof;

(2) using the plasmid pAAV-RC of step (1) as template, mutating a codon, which encodes the amino acid of VP1 or fragment thereof at the site selected in step (1), as codon TAG by a genetic engineering method, to obtain a site-specifically mutated virus packaging plasmid;

(3) co-transfecting a host cell with the mutant sequence expression vector obtained in step (3) and a vector of gene encoding orthogonal amber mutant suppressor aminoacyl-tRNA synthase/tRNA_CUA, culturing the successfully co-transfected host cell in a culture media comprising an non-natural amino acid, inducing expression under suitable conditions, to obtain the site-specifically mutated adeno-associated virus;

preferably, co-transfecting the suitable host cell with vectors pHelper and pAAV-GFP as well in step (3), and the suitable host cell in step (3) is AAV-293 incasing cell.

19. A composition or kit, which comprises the adeno-associated virus according any one of claims 8-11, or the nucleic acid according to claim 12, or the nucleic acid vector according to claim 13 or 14.

20. A gene vaccine, which comprises the adeno-associated virus according any one of claims 8-11, or the nucleic acid according to claim 12, or the nucleic acid vector according to claim 13 or 14.

21. A use of the adeno-associated virus according any one of claims 8-11, or the nucleic acid according to claim 12, or the nucleic acid vector according to claim 13 or 14 in manufacture of a preparation for obtaining adeno-associated virus binding protein, or in manufacture of a medicament for gene therapy, or in manufacture of a DNA vaccine.

22. A use of the adeno-associated virus according any one of claims 8-11 as a tool adeno-associated virus.

23. A gene therapeutic method, the method comprising administering a subject in need with an effective amount of the adeno-associated virus according any one of claims 8-11, or the nucleic acid according to claim 12, or the nucleic acid vector according to claim 13 or 14.

Drawing